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SENIOR ORAL EXAM MATERIALS Presented to the Harvard College SENIOR ORAL EXAM MATERIALS Presented to the Harvard College Committee on Degrees in History & Literature Qianqian Yang April 16, 2019 Contents Program Statement List of Courses Concentration Requirements Relevant Electives Topics List I. Visions of the Orient II. The Oppositional Gaze: Women Looking Back III. Photographic Portraiture, Politics, and Power Across the Atlantic (1839–1939) IV. Migratory Modernisms: American Identity in the In-Between V. Romance of Remembered Space: Chinese Urban Nostalgia (1919–present) Bibliography Primary Secondary Program Statement Dear Hist & Lit Oral Exam Committee, When I first arrived on campus in August of 2015, I unpacked a number of things that were central to my identity: three worn suitcases stood against the peeling white plaster walls of Wigglesworth D-31. One was stuffed with thrifted men’s sweaters (all oversized and woefully inadequate for the coming winter) and DIY cutoff jeans. Tucked inside another’s zippered compartments were glass canisters of my grandma’s homemade spicy radish: slivers of home. In the third sat miscellaneous décor and documents, including the sheet music for Chopin’s piano works, the faded yellow pages creased and covered in years of penciled study. The me who was born in Guangzhou, China and grew up in suburban Texas nervously exchanged hellos with new roommates. Their hometowns seemed impossibly distant: a Catholic, coastal town in Ireland, the far reaches of California, the East Coast prep circle. In the whorl of unfamiliar people and places, and also overwhelming privilege, I was suddenly unsure what I was supposed to be doing. Was I even good at piano? (Someone in a neighboring entryway performed in concert halls around the world while simultaneously studying French philosophy.) What did it mean to identify as Asian American? (One friend penned short stories, in prestigious literary journals, that poignantly probed her immigrant upbringing and the limitations of language, and another led pro-diversity rallies at a social justice organization.) And, most inexplicably, why did I have to wear a variation of the same tight-jeans-and-tube-top ensemble to every social event? (I showed up in my regular uniform of baggy everything and felt acutely out of place.) It seemed silly to worry about things like clothes and campus community when headlines warned of nuclear war and Trump and the impending demise of our democracy. My concerns mirrored my sense of self: so very small. But as I listened to conversations unfolding in dining halls and coffee shops, I began to realize that it wasn’t just me. Everyone, from peers to professors to Starbucks strangers, was trying to make sense of their own words and feelings and actions. It is these little things, after all, the become the fabric of our lives. In Art History lectures and Hist and Lit tutorials, I found my voice. I continued to ask questions, louder now: Why have certain forms of music and art come to mean so much for different people? What drives individuals to identify so strongly with a particular social group, and for what purposes have such affiliations been constructed? How do people present themselves in person, or on the page, or via pixelated platforms? What circumstances have enabled these performances of the self, and what do they suggest about the state of multiculturalism or even the stability of systems of government? In short, I wanted to understand how the broader social, economic, and political transformations charted in history textbooks emerge from ordinary actions and events—from fashion to food, painting to music, literature to LIFE magazine ads. The following program of study is a compilation of these intersecting interests. At its heart is the belief that the stuff of everyday life is a ripe site to parse the complicated and changing dynamics between people and nations, ones often drawn along the lines of race, class, and gender. This program demonstrates the ways in which my studies have enabled me to think deeply and differently about the world. I’ve purged my closet of destroyed denim, but I still think about the ways in which style trends, whether “mom” jeans or “dad” bods, both reinforce and reshape existing gender norms. After four years of rubbery HUDS chicken, my mouth waters for my grandma’s spice-filled Hunan cooking. Yet I also know that the cuisine I love served as a political tool in the Cold War, its aesthetic co-opted (but producers suppressed) by the kitchens of white America in order to domesticate a perceived Communist threat. Though my Chopin playing is definitely rusty, encounters with other forms of artistic expression, from provocative portraiture to contemporary Chinese poetry, have sharpened my perspectives on agency and representation. The five topics assembled below speak to my conviction that a bottoms-up approach to the art and experiences of the past generates rich terrain for critical inquiry. In pursuing this academic path, I hope that I, too, am participating in the kinds of conversations that help us make sense of our lives—and the histories from which they have emerged. And oversized sweaters? I stand by my belief: they’re a timeless wardrobe staple. Warmly, Qianqian (QQ) Yang List of Courses Concentration Requirements Tutorials HIST-LIT 99 Senior Tutorial (2 semesters) Completed research and writing for the senior thesis, which established the long- overlooked work of female, Japanese artist Toshiko Okanoue, as a critical voice on the condition of women in postwar Japan in the wake of American Occupation. HIST-LIT 98 Junior Tutorial (2 semesters) Collaboratively designed a course of study on challenges to conventional family structures in 1950s America and fashion as a form of cultural production and performance. Produced junior essay on the latter topic. HIST-LIT 97 Sophomore Tutorial: Imagining Media (1 semester) Charted innovations in communication technology over the past two centuries, ranging from the phonograph to the radio to the computer, and considered their impact on conceptions of autonomy and humanity. Language Requirement CHNSE 140A/B Advanced Modern Chinese Discussed contemporary social issues in China and classical literary texts. Language course conducted in Mandarin Chinese. Field of Study: Modern World AESTHINT 58 Modern Art and Modernity Chronicled defining moments in European and American art, ranging from traditional forms (i.e., painting and sculpture) to new media (e.g., photography and video, installation, performance art) from the 1730s to the 1980s. Considered the place of artistic practice in the conditions of modern society. CULTBLF 30 A History of Photography Considered photography’s role in shaping social relations, memory, and ideologies from its origins in the early 19th century to the digital era. Integrated close-looking exercises at the Harvard Art Museums and careful study of writings on photography throughout time. ENGLISH 170A High and Low in Postwar America Traced the economic, political, demographic, and technological changes in American culture that effected the shift from modernism to postmodernism during the three decades after World War II. Covered theoretical writings and artistic production, primarily poetry, fiction, art, film, and television. GSD/HIS 4329** Urbanization in the East Asian Region Examined patterns of urbanization in major East Asian cities (i.e., Beijing, Macau, Hong Kong, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, Taipei, Tokyo) from their origins as settlements, some as early as the 14th century, to modern day. Explored both spatial changes, from the design of micro-level buildings to planning of macro- level districts, through blueprints, maps, and architectural renderings, as well as the political, social, economic, and environmental factors underlying development. HAA 101 The Making of Art and Artifacts: History, Material, and Technique Researched the histories of a number of key artistic techniques throughout history: paper-making, bronze casting, fresco painting, wood carving, etc. Also participated in hands-on workshops aimed at deepening the understanding of artists’ material considerations and conservators’ interventions. HIST 1013 Introduction to Asian American History Outlined the key historical processes undergirding Asian American community formation in the U.S. through a transnational lens. Studied political documents (court cases and immigration legislation), artistic production (books, films, and theater), and archival material (letters, interviews, and photographic records). HIST 1602 Modern China Surveyed major “-isms” in China, including republicanism, militarism, nationalism, and socialism, after the collapse of the imperial system in 1911. Focused on close analysis of primary source documents, from news articles to policy documents to propaganda posters. HIST-LIT 90L Stories of Slavery and Freedom Engaged with pamphlets, petitions, autobiographies, sermons, speeches, and other written and visual forms of expression produced by enslaved African peoples in America. In so doing, considered the articulation of American ideals such as freedom, liberty, and justice through the voices of the “black Atlantic” rather than their oppressors. Relevant Electives ENGLISH 179B Art Novels Explored the relationship between the visual arts and the form of the American novel, beginning with the pioneering works of Henry James in the late 19th century to the contemporary ones of Thomas Pynchon. Read works of fiction alongside theoretical texts on the visual arts in the same period in order to think
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